As far as you can go

I spoke about scenery the other day and what an impact FF3 had via using it to tell the story without words. Another moment just happened tonight and it really has such a kick to it that even though it was not new to me at all it still hit me like it did eleven years ago.

No matter how much you push on the controller, that chain holds your ship down tight. You are going to have to find another route. The previous freedom that you had is just held so tight that it feels so unbelievably strange that the ocean lies right out in front of you but you are unable to go forward. You can still get into random battles while you try desperately to tug your boat away from its chains, but that is about all you can do besides disembark and head back into the town and begin to figure things out.

There is only one real route from here but this "freedom" to try and move your ship masks that linearity that the game has and instead puts you in the position of "Well, I tried that. Now I have to try something else." There are literally chains binding you to completing the game as the developers intended but the illusion that they craft adds such a feeling that it does not even really matter that I am heading in a straight line. Because I know what I have to do and I am now making the choice myself to go and do it.